Ready to wrap up comparisons with the NKJV? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Yeah. You all know the drill by now. We’re still dealing with KJV-onlyism and the link to the source material can be found here.
KJV: “DUNG”
NKJV: “rubbish”
COMMENT: I have rubbish on the top of my office desk, but I don’t want ‘dung’ there!!!
First off, clean off your office desk, dude.
Second, I do think the KJV is closer in this in the word is skubalon and it could best be translated as an expletive. However, I don’t think it’s fair to say the NKJV gives a bad idea here of what Paul is saying and the argument of “I want one on my office desk and not the other” is hardly a persuader.
1 Tim 6:10
KJV: “For the love of money is THE root of all evil …”
NKJV: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil …”
COMMENT: There is a big difference between the NKJV’s “a” root and the correct KJV reading of “THE” root.
Yes. There is. For one thing, the KJV is wrong. Let’s ask a few simple questions. Did the devil rebel against God for the money? Did Cain kill his brother for money? There are plenty of evils that are done for money. The NKJV has this one right. (Also, there is no article before root in the Greek so that’s another reason to not say “the”.)
1 Tim 6:20
KJV: “… oppositions of science falsely so called”
NKJV: “… contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge”
I have no idea what the issue is with this one and Johnson doesn’t say.
2 Tim 2:15
KJV: “STUDY to shew thyself approved unto God …”
NKJV: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God…”
COMMENT: We are supposed to STUDY the Word of God.
Note that the passage doesn’t even say study the Word of God. It just says study. Johnson is adding that part in. However, the word there is best translated as be diligent and that works better everywhere else it is used in the NT. There is only one place where the KJV translates this as study. Here it does it differently.
Jude 15
KJV: “… and of all their hard SPEECHES which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
NKJV: “… and of all the harsh things which …”
COMMENT: There is a difference between speeches and things.
Go look this one up on BlueLetterBible.com and you will see that it has speeches in brackets. Why? The word isn’t there in the original. The term harsh is which tells me it’s likely an adjective that plays the role of a noun too. (The good, the bad, and the ugly.) Johnson could have, you know, looked this up, but I guess he didn’t want to. After all, he had the inspired KJV.
And yes, speeches and things are different. You can say many unkind and harsh things to someone that are not speeches.
Next the KJV will be compared to the Living Bible.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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